Headstrong Daughters: Inspiring Stories From The New Generation Of Australian Muslim Women

by Nadia Jamal

Nadia Jamal takes us inside the lives of ordinary Muslim women from around Australia, showing how they find ways to stay true to their faith, and to themselves as well. These candid and moving stories reveal a side to Australian life that is little known and often misunderstood.

How would you feel, as a guest, about sitting in a suburban living room that is for women only?
What if you wanted a baby but as a single woman could not have one outside of a marriage?
Could you stay home to mourn a husband for four months and ten days?

Headstrong Daughters takes us inside the lives of Muslim women in Australia today. They are working professionals, mothers, and students. At home they are finding ways to stay true to their faith as well as to themselves, navigating the expectations of their families and the traditions they brought with them to their new country.

But things are not always what they seem. These candid, moving and sometimes surprising stories reveal a side to Australian life that is little known and often misunderstood. Inspiring, warm and determined, these women are the new face of Islam in Australia.

Genres: Nonfiction, Womens, Religion, Islam

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2018

About the author

I currently work as a financial crime analyst at a global bank. Prior to this, I was a newspaper and digital journalist at Fairfax Media, starting my 15-year career at The Sydney Morning Herald as a reporter. I also held senior newsroom roles at Fairfax's smh.com.au and the Sunday newspaper, The Sun-Herald. After leaving journalism, I gained my qualifications to practise as a lawyer. My book, Headstrong Daughters, is about how Muslim women from a range of cultural backgrounds live in Australia. It covers diverse themes including segregated living rooms, Sunni-Shiite relationships, and inheritance rules. Headstrong Daughters is my second published book. My first book, The Glory Garage, covered the lives of teenage girls from a Lebanese Australian Muslim background. This book was short-listed for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards and was a runner-up in the Children's Book Council of Australia's Book of the Year for Information Books. Both of my books were published by Allen & Unwin and delve into how women living in Australia straddle different cultural and religious expectations.

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories written by Nadia Jamal and based on interviews she conducted with ordinary Muslim women around Australia. This book takes a deeper look into the lives of Muslim women and their determination to stay true to their faith and to themselves. These are resonating stories told by working professionals, mothers and students and reveals a side that is little known and often misunderstood. This too, is a book I really related to as a young Muslim woman living in Australia, a working professional and a woman who strives to live a well balanced life with faith, work, family and being in touch with her culture without it clashing with faith. I also found this book dispelled a lot of myths that hang about with Muslim women - particularly with the hijab and status of women in Islam. I found it quite inspiring myself. Special thanks to Allen & Unwin Publishers for sending me an advanced review copy of this book - this book should be available in leading book retailers by now.

[Sam Schroder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this book but the reality fell a bit flat. The title is misleading, in my opinion, as the women portrayed in this non-fiction are many and varied but none really fit the description of headstrong. The book explores a range of experiences for Muslim women in Australia covering marriage, children, the choice to wear the hijab and gender expectations but it is written in a very dry and, unfortunately, quite plodding and repetitive style.

[Suzie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. I devoured every chapter.

[Jessica McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book taught me things I didn't know I didn't know about both Islam and the experiences of Muslims in Australia. I have always had an accepting, curious and loving view, but reading Jamal's book has heightened that view. It was entirely coincidental that I happened to pick up this book on the same day of the awful terrorism attack on the mosques in Christchurch NZ (Adelaide's sister city). I recommend that everyone should read either this book or a book like it, because it is so important to have the knowledge. I would never tell anyone to convert to a religion unless you learn about it and choose to yourself (I decided on my own terms after years of umming and ahhing that I did believe in God and would call myself a Christian), but I think it is so important that you realise that there are some amazing people out there and that Islam is a truly beautiful religion. On another point, I have heard many people asking why the book is called "'Headstrong' Daughters", because they don't believe the women are being headstrong if they're just doing what their religion tells them to do. No. 1 they aren't all doing 'exactly' what Islam tells them to do, and No. 2 they are strong women because they are representing their religion and staying true to themselves in the face of adversity in a so called multicultural and accepting country. I'll say right now, given the political climate going on right now, we've got a way to go before we can say we are truly celebratory of our multiculturalism, but I do hope and pray that we will get there one day.

[Read3r’z Re-Vu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories written by Nadia Jamal and based on interviews she conducted with ordinary Muslim women around Australia. This book takes a deeper look into the lives of Muslim women and their determination to stay true to their faith and to themselves. These are resonating stories told by working professionals, mothers and students and reveals a side that is little known and often misunderstood. This too, is a book I really related to as a young Muslim woman living in Australia, a working professional and a woman who strives to live a well balanced life with faith, work, family and being in touch with her culture without it clashing with faith. I also found this book dispelled a lot of myths that hang about with Muslim women – particularly with the hijab and status of women in Islam. I found it quite inspiring myself. Special thanks to Allen & Unwin Publishers for sending me an advanced review copy of this book – this book should be available in leading book retailers.

Wishing all who commemorate the Holy Month of Ramadan a wonderful and blessed month. May your fasting come at ease and may you all have special time with loved ones this coming month.

Ramadan Mubarak!!!
- Annie

[Chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

After seeing Jamal at the Brisbane Writer's Festival, I was really looking forward to reading the book. I was disappointed. The writing style was quite simplistic to the extent that it felt repetitive, all of the women in the book ended up having the same voice. Most of the stories told didn't have much structure or conclusion - they seemed to be about women thinking about things rather than doing anything, with vague commitments to 'ponder further' in the future. I was hoping for something that would highlight the similarities between Muslim women and everyone else, given the current lack of understanding and discrimination in the community about Islam, and if anything, suspect these stories (highlighting a very patriarchal culture) will further cement bias, rather than the opposite. I was promised 'inspiring' stories about 'headstrong' women and didn't find either.

[Rania T · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Nadia Jamal fan club is needed, as she is a fantastic writer. Having said that, it was great to have a glimpse of the lives of a selection of Australian Muslim women in this country. The most emotional chapter for me, was the one on death. Bittersweet in some points, almost bought a tear to my eye, but then made me laugh when the author says, that at Muslim funerals, there is no "White Lady" in sight, in reference to the White Lady Funeral Directors Service. Also loved the chapter on Fostering and was glad that the woman at the centre of the Chapter got her own happy ending in the end. Hope to see more books soon. Recommended.

[Bella98 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I learnt so much and many things I didn’t know until reading this book. It represented the struggles that Muslim women have to go through as part of culture, religion and tradition and how they persevere in despite of it all. It was a really good read and I highly recommend if you want to know more about Islam, and not the stereotypes that Muslims are ‘terrorists’, but everyday people just like you and I, with struggles and stories to tell.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I have a few friends who are Muslim and work in a high school that is mainly populated by hijab wearing students and this book really helped me to understand more about the religion.

[Bec · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a truly fantastic read. It gave me a more enlightened understanding of the Muslim faith, and some challenges these Australian Muslim women endure. I am disgusted by the horrible actions and words that people have aimed at these lovely ladies.

[Fatima M · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very sweet account of stories from Australian Muslim women navigating their lives through the land they live in. This book serves as an encouragement for Muslim women who wish to understand the unique challenges they face and can surely deal with them.